I thought that, as a matter of routine, drivers would acclimatise themselves with their cars on the simulator, so that all the functions on the steering wheel would become familiar to them. How wrong I was. Learning that during a race, possibly under coaching from the pit, will be like a crash course. Oh, well ...
Ferrari customized Hamiltons steering wheel to Hamilton's likeness. It's quite different from Leclerc's steering wheel which is obvious. Look at Sainz, also in the same situation as Hamilton-->different settings in the steering wheel than Ferrari's, different team, different EVERYTHING!! Hamilton was 2/10's off Leclerc's qualifying time. Sainz was 3/10's off Albons qualifying time. When comparing a 7x WDC title holder to a NON- WDC title holder and their times to their team-mates, Sainz didn't really do to bad in a new team.
Right? Lewis in the interview literally said he didn't know the wheel yet. How else are we supposed to take it?
I wanted to go into this season not looking to bag on him, but how the hell do you get in an F1 car without having a full understanding how everything between your hands works? Master your machinery!
Irrelevant Ham: When Benson said Hammy was going for his eighth, we didn’t realise he meant grid spot. If he doesn't do better than Albon it will be a disappointment.
Ask Lance Stroll. It took him 2 years to know which buttons were the team radio buttons and which buttons were the deployment energy store buttons.
Lol, lots of young people melting down on social saying that too! Ferrari’s own accounts are flooded with young people saying Ferrari is “cooked”. This cranky old man won’t say “I told you so” till at least 8 races in. A lot can change in a short time. I already placed my WDC bets so I’ll have to be patient and wait it out now.
So, a race(Melbourne 2025) to forget from Ferrari. The only "positive" was that Hamilton didn't crash out in a new team while Sainz did. It's the 1st race of the season as I am sure things will turn around for the Scuderia with 23 races to go. In 2024: Sainz scored 25pts Leclerc scored 19pts Total cumulative pts = 44pts In 2025: Leclerc scored 4pts Hamilton scored 1pt Total cumulative pts = 5pts So many things wrong with these next 2 standings: Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
On the personal side of his career legacy, Lewis was the biggest winner yesterday. His win record is safe. Max proved without Newey he will not win 20 races this season. No other driver could break Lewis win record of 105 wins. McLaren will split the majority of wins, Ferrari, MB and Red Bull will each pick up a few. But Max's domination is over. Newey was the real talent at Red Bull. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Attributing all the wins to a single person is incredibly short sighted. Using that logic you may as well dedicate all Lewis' merc wins to Costa/Brawn/Cowell/Allison, and Michaels' wins to Brawn/Byrne/Costa/Allison. F1 is a team sport and requires the TEAM to work together to win races and championships. Without decent drivers, NONE of these incredible engineered cars would have been as successful, and without these incredible brains, NONE of the drivers would've enjoyed lasting success. Not Lewis, not Michael, not Max, not anyone.
Huh? Max might not run away with it but he’s right in there to fight McLaren at least, even if it is still too early to tell. The only way that record is safe is if Max stops racing IMO. He still has at least a few years left and anything can happen.
Newey, Honda, Hannah Schmitz, along with Max's talent and skill were the real talent at RedBull in this turbo-hybrid era hence his 4 WDC titles. Prior to that, RedBull had Renault PU's and RedBull and Max suffered.
